Recent movies like Chappie and Ex Machina have explored the mystery of consciousness. Is consciousness a result of physical chemistry in the brain or is it something more? Are humans nothing more than the atoms that make up their bodies, or are we a
physical body and an immaterial soul? Today it is a popular belief that we are
nothing more than the atoms that make up our bodies. Often, scientific evidence
is cited in support of this conclusion. However, when interpreting the
scientific data people often presuppose a materialistic view of the Universe.
This view holds that energy and matter are all that is in existence. Starting
with a materialistic presupposition the only conclusion one will come to
concerning the makeup of humans is
physicalism.
Atheist philosopher and writer Alex Rosenberg answers the question, “Is there a soul? Is it
immortal?” with the retort, “Are you kidding?”1 Along with...

We all face hard times in our lives. Times when pain and suffering bring doubts into our lives. When a good and dear friend like Ken passes away it is definitely a loss. I have known him and his wife for over twenty some years. We became friends when I was unemployed and my wife was pregnant with our first child. During those troubling times he and his wife were there for us. They gave us little odd jobs, like building a gate, as a means to get us some money. Their love, kindness, and faithfulness got us through some of the hardest times of our lives.
At the time I do not know if he knew the impact on our lives. It wasn't until 15 years later that I told him the impact his faithfulness to Christ kingdom had on our lives.
When we found out he and his...

Every weekday morning I go to the gym, swim for about a half hour and retire to the hot tub where a there is a motley congregation of gym goers. Some sit for hours talking to people as they casually come and go. Some are in and out before you even know they were there. I typically pop in for a brief time and engage in whatever topics are being discussed. The topics are about all types of subjects like, food, cars, news, sports, TV, politics and even religion from time to time.
Last week during one of my typical brief stays in the hot tub, I was talking to one of regular morning folk. He is an Italian-American gentlemen who is prone to discussing unconventional topics like the Bermuda Triangle or near death experiences. This morning he was talking about the tragedy in Kenya and was comment on how...

Did you know that all areas of study and research start and end with philosophy? In scientific research, the "science" is just the meat in the middle, surrounded by the bread of philosophy. Science starts with philosophical assumptions. Like the presupposition that the laws of the nature are consistent throughout the Universe or that we can accurately observe phenomena. These assumptions cannot be proven by science, they just have to be accepted. With those presuppositions in hand we start our scientific methodologies. Once we have collected data from those scientific experiments we return to philosophy for the logic and reason used to interpret the results, philosophical concepts like inference to the best explanation.
Do you know what PhD stand for? Doctor of Philosophy of (fill in the blank). To truly understand any field of study, one must understand the philosophy that undergirds that discipline. This is why the highest degree...

Bill Nye and Ken Ham debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI
Being someone agnostic to some of the issues discussed, I thought it was an interesting and informative debate.
This is a big debate that covers many disciplines of science a little here and a little there. It might have been better to limit the debate or parts of the debate to biology or cosmology, instead of jumping back and forth. That being said Ken and Bill both made statements I agreed with. And both made statements I disagree with.
Ken Ham frames the debate around the definitions and different kinds of science and defines Creationism. Which is a challenge that Nye does not address adequately. Instead, Nye repeatedly asks Ham for a testable predictions. However, this misunderstands Ham’s differentiation between observational science and historical science. Ken did say the Bible is testable and offered a few remarks on this. Ken Ham should have...

Just got back from watching Captain America, The Winter Soldier. I have to admit this was an awesome movie and it isn’t the norm to get a sequel that is head and shoulders above the predecessor. This movie delivered on the action, as expected from the Marvel franchise, but it went above and beyond with a brilliant story. For me this is the best movie so far this year.
What I like about the story is how it asks a very pertinent question for us today. How much are you willing to give up in order to live in a world without war, crime or suffering? Are you willing to give up your country, neighbors, friends and family? Are you willing to give up your freedom?
Since the events of September 11, 2001 this has been the question the world has been struggling to answer. Given the recent revelations of...

I just finished reading The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails. In particular I want to respond to some of the claims in Chapter 11 “Why the Resurrection is Unbelievable”, written by Richard Carrier. From other sources, Richard Carrier claims that Jesus did not exist and that his life is a complete myth.
I also have some comments about Chapter 4, “The Outsider Test for Faith Revisited” written by John W. Loftus, that seem to be a prerequisite but that should be a separate post.
I agree with Carrier when he says, “There is no good reason to treat these stories any differently than those we find in Herodotus…” (Kindle location 5635) Mike Licona and Gary Habermas agree that skeptics can take the New Testament documents as they would any other document from antiquity [1]. However, I think Carrier’s argument does not hold true to this principle. He treats Biblical stories...

From author Larry Witham comes the book,By Design: Science and the Search for God, that traces the roots and history of two streams of interrelated thought from about 1980 to 2000; the intelligent design movement and the science and religion dialogue. His interest is in exploring “the middle ground between the atheists and the fundamentalists” where dialogue is taking place.1 Witham’s goal is provide the reader with an overview, although in condensed form, of the issues and events connected to this dialogue.
Witham is a highly qualified author and a seasoned journalist who first honed his skills in the newsroom for the Washington Times for 21 years and then turned to writing and editing books. He was the editor of Science & Spirit magazine in 2007 and has authored 14 books. He has also been nationally recognized and has received awards from the Religion Communicators Council and the Templeton Foundation...

Portrait of Galileo Galilei 1636 by Justus Sustermans. On display at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. This is a public domain work of art.
The Galileo Affair
On 15 February 15641 Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Duchy of Florence, Italy. In his early years, Galileo considered becoming a priest. However, his father persuaded him to study medicine. While at school he studied many subjects and later become a mathematician, physicist, astronomer and philosopher. His contributions the field of astronomy were revolutionary for his day. He discovered the phases of Venus, the four large satellites of Jupiter, now named in his honor as the Galilean moons, and his work on Sunspots. Galileo also worked to improve compasses. A devout Christian, he died on the 8th of January, 1642.
However, today Galileo is known less for this contributions to science and known more as a poster child for what is called...

The following was in response to the Mother Jones article, “Creationists Have Questions. I Have Answers” by Phil Plait (In response to the Bill Nye and Ken Ham debate.)
This was an interesting post and well written by Phil Plait. Some thoughts about a few of his points (original article sections in quotes):
4) "Does not the second law of thermodynamics disprove evolution?"
“No. The creationist argument assumes the Earth is a closed system, such that energy cannot escape or enter.”
He is correct in this generally. But often those who look to origin of life solutions from naturalism apply evolutionary theory to not simply all of biological life, but to cosmology as well and try to explain how information appearing in the cosmos does not violate the 2nd Law. Their solutions are at best awkward.
6) "If the Big Bang Theory is true and taught as science along with evolution, why...